MONTEGO BAY, St James — Defending champions St Elizabeth Technical High (STETHS) will lead the quest for places in the final of the ISSA/Pepsi/Digicel daCosta Cup schoolboys’ football competition in today’s semi-finals.

STETHS will face Lennon High in one semi-final at Brancourt in Clarendon today, while eight-time winners Rusea’s High and 2008 champions St James High will meet at Jarrett Park for a place in next Saturday’s final that will most likely be played at Jarrett Park.

Of the four, Lennon High, the only non-western Jamaica team left, is the only one not to have qualified for a daCosta Cup final, but coach Merron Gordon thinks their time has come.

“We have as good a chance as any other team to make it to the final,” the 27-year-old Gordon told Sporting World yesterday.

STETHS coach Andrew Edwards says they have been preparing for “every eventuality” that may come their way.

Edwards, who will be taking STETHS to successive finals in his third year at the Santa Cruz-based school, said they have showed they can win when it matters most, and as the only unbeaten school in ISSA competition, they “have confidence in our preparation”.

STETHS will be without one of their top scorers Davian Ash who has been suspended due to yellow cards accumulation and says their other top scorer Denmark Gillings might not be able to play a full 90 minutes due to a thigh strain.

The game at Jarrett Park should attract a sizable crowd of die-hard fans and both sides admit there are very little secrets between the two schools that have played most of their games at the same venue since the end of the first round.

Rusea’s, who have conceded just two goals in the daCosta Cup all season and went nearly 1,060 minutes until they conceded a second goal against Old Harbour last week, will have a chip on their shoulders after being beaten 6-1 by St James High in a Ben Francis KO quarterfinal game last year.

“Obviously there are quality players on the St James High team that will bear special attention,” Rusea’s assistant coach Anthony ‘Follies’ Williams said.

St James High’s Hugh Solomon says they will be going into the game “full of confidence and in a positive mind set”.

There are some concerns over the fitness of midfielder Randy Myrie who was pulled from the game against Marcus Garvey last week and with Cion Peterkin also out with a broken leg, he says he hopes Jason Malcolm, Alwayne Barrett and Ricardo Morris will pick up the slack.

Both games today are play to finish, as a winner must be decided. If at the end of 90 minutes the scores are tied, two 10-minute periods of extra time will be played and penalties will also be used, if necessary.